Vehicle door latch



May Z1, 1968 H. J. sHAY VEHICLE DOOR LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 29, 1965 @lagig Qjhg y May 21, 1968 H. J. SHAY 3,384,403

VEHICLE DOOR LATCH Filed Sept. 29, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @valo-FOM United States Patent O Mice 3,384,403 VEHICLE DGGR LATCH Harry I. Shay, Rockford, Ill., assigner to L. W. Menzimer, trustee, Rockford, lli. Fired sept. 29, i965, ser. N0. 491,095 1 Claim. (Cl. 292-216) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A latch for a vehicle door includes an elongated actuating rod connected to rotate with an outside push button when the latter is turned by a key to lock or unlock the latch, the rod also being connected slidably to the push button so that the button may be depressed to release the latch. In response to rotation of the actuating rod, a transfer member carried on one end of the rod acts through a pivoted arm to move a locking lever to a locked or unlocked position depending upon the direction of rotation of the rod. A lost-motion connection between the transfer member and the arm enables an over-center spring to move the locking lever to the selected position after the transfer element has been turned through only a short arc.

The present invention relates to a latch of the type commonly used for the door of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a latch which may be locked from the inside as by the conventional remote control handle or garnish moldin-g button, or from the outside by a key.

The general object of the invention is to provide a new and improved latch of the above character which may be unlatched by depressing an outside button, and which, additionally, includes a positive acting lock which may be actuated by turning a key mechanism included in the outside button.

Another object of this invention is to arrange the parts of the latch so that an outside button can be depressed to unlatch the door, with a snap-over-center lock operatively connected to the button through a lost-motion connection such that turning a key mechanism in the outside button a small amount will move the lock past center, where it will move on positively and quickly to the other position without further turning of the key.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of an automobile door utilizing a latch constructed in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary end view of the latch and the strike,

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the latch along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the parts in the locked position,

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the parts in the unlocked position,

FIG. 5 is a view along the line 5 5 of FIG. 3 showing the ratchet in latched position,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of the principal parts of the locking mechanism, and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view along the line 7-7 of FIG. 2.

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a latch of the type commonly used for a door of a vehicle such as an automobile. In general, the latch is mounted nteriorly of the door with a shaft 21 projecting through the door end wall 22 and carrying a latching member 24. The latter, in the present instance, is a rotary member keyed to the shaft 21 and formed with gear teeth Z5 which co-act with 3,384,403 Patented May 2l, 1968 a striker 26 mounted on a post of the vehicle frame. The striker may, as illustrated in FIG. 2, be a plate with a recess 28 opening through the outer side of the plate and formed with a tooth 29 and a pocket 30 along the lower side of the recess. Thus, as the door is closed, the tooth 25 engages the tooth 29 on the striker 26 and further closing of the door rotates the latch member or gear 24 so that the second tooth 25 rolls into the pocket 30.

When the tooth 25 is received in the pocket 30, the door 20 is in the closed position and, to latch the door in this position, a pawl 31 (FIG. 5) engages a ratchet 32 which is keyed to the shaft 21 on the inner side of the door wall 22. Herein, the shaft 21 is journaled on one leg 33 of an L-shaped support or bracket 34, the le-g 33 being secured to the inside of the door end wall 22 by bolts 34a (FIG. 1), while the other leg 35 of the bracket extends alongside the inner wall of the door.

The pawl 31 is in the form of a bell crank lever which is fulcrumed by a stub shaft 36 to turn about an axis paralleling the axis of the shaft 21 and which includes a tooth 37 integral with one arm 38 of the bell crank lever to engage one or the other of the teeth 39 .or 40 of the ratchet 32. When the pawl tooth engages the ratchet tooth 40 as shown, the door 20 is in the fully latched position. The door is latched in the usual safety position when the pawl tooth 37 engages the tooth 39 on the ratchet.

The pawl 31 is biased into engagement with the ratchet 32 by a coiled torsion spring 41 which extends around the shaft 36 and acts between this shaft and a flange 44 on the pawl lever. The lever may be released from the latched position shown in FIG. 5 by applying a force on a contactor lever 46 formed by extending the flange 44 upward past the shaft 36. When a force is applied to the contactor lever 46 urging the pawl to turn counterclockwise about the shaft 36, the arm 38 is moved away from the ratchet 32 to disengage the tooth 37 from the ratchet teeth 39 and 40. With the pawl thus disengaged from the ratchet, a contractile spring 49, which acts between a circular flange 50 on the ratchet and the flange 44 on the pawl lever, turns the ratchet clockwise (FIG. 5) as the door is opened and the teeth 25 move out of engagement with the striker 26.

The latch may also be released from the latched position shown in FIG. 5 by moving a remote control handle (not shown) connected by a link 521 to a lever 54- Which is fulcrumed at 55 on the leg 35 of the mounting bracket 34. When the control handle is moved to unlatch the door, a link 52 is moved to the left in FIG. 4 to turn the lever clockwise about the fulcrum 55. An abutment 56 on the lever engages on arm y58 on the pawl 31, which arm extends horizontally from the pawl and then is bent perpendicular thereto to extend through a slot 57 in the leg 35, and further movement of the lever turns the pawl counterclockwise to disengage it from the ratchet 32, thus unlatching the door.

For locking the latch, an upright locking lever 60k is fulcrumed intermediate its ends on the leg 35 of the bracket 34 by a stud 61, to swing about an axis at right angles to the axis of the pawl. In its unlocked position shown in FIG. 4, the upper arm 62 of the locking lever is disposed adjacent the bracket leg 33 and directly to one side of the end of the arm 58 on the contactor 46. When the locking lever is turned counterclockwise to the locked position as shown in FIG. 3, an indent 64 on the upper arm 62 lits around the bent portion of the arm 58 on the contactor. By this arrangement the latch is now placed in the locked position since an abutment 65 on the upper arm forming one edge of the indent now prevents the contactor from pivoting about its fulcrum 36 to the unlatched position.

The locking lever is biased toward the locked and unlocked positions by an over-center spring 66 which acts between the bracket 34 and the locking lever. Herein, the spring 66 is a coiled torsion spring disposedbetween the locking lever and the leg 35 of the bracket with the end 68 anchored by being projected through a hole 69 in the locking lever 60 and the end 70 by being projected through a hole 71 in the bracket leg 35. Thus, as the locking lever is turned away from the unlocked position (FIG. 4) towar-d the locked position (FIG. 3) the end 68 of the spring 66 moves from the left to the right in the drawings about the fulcrum 61 until the hole 69 swings even wi.h the hole 71. At this point the holes are closer together than at any other position of the locking lever as it turns, thereby squeezing the ends 68 and 70 of the spring together. Further counterclockwise turning of the locking lever causes the spring to move immediately from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 3, thereby imparting a snap-over-center action on the locking lever snapping it to the locked position. The same snap action also occurs as the locking lever is moved clockwise to the unlocked position.

As is customary with latches of this type, a remote handle or garnish button may be manually actuated to rotate the locking lever and thus lock and unlock the latch. For this purpose, the lever 54 includes an abutment 72, formed by bending the end of an arm 74 at right angles to the lever, which abutment contacts one edge 75 on the locking lever. By this arrangement, the lever 54 may be turned counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 3 and by reason of the abutment 72 contacting and pushing on the locking lever edge 75, the locking lever is moved to the locked position.

The locking lever may be turned from the locked to the unlocked position in much the same manner. For this purpose, an abutment 76 is formed by bending the end of an arm 78 normal to the lever 54. Thus when the lever 54 is turned clockwise, the abutment contacts an edge 79 on the locking lever to move this lever to the unlocked position. Further turning of the lever 54 in this direction causes edge 56 thereon to contact the arm 58 of the contactor and move the pawl to the unlatched position as explained before. Thelever 54 can be turned by actuation of a remote handle attached there to by link 52, or by a garnish button (not shown) which can be attached to the lever at a hole 80.

In accordance with the present invention, the latch can be unlatched from outside the door by pressing a pushbutton 81 and, by turning a key mechanism posi.ioned concentric with the pushbutton, the locking lever can be moved sufficiently so as to be snapped by means of a lost motion connection to the locked or unlocked positions without further turning of the key, thus providing a very compact and positive acting mechanism for operating the latch from outside the door.

To achieve the foregoing, a square shaft 82 is extended horizontally through an elongated hole 84 in the contactor arm 46, and the end of the shaft is fitted in a sleeve 85 mounted for rotation in an opening 86 in the bracket leg 35. This square shaft passes through -a square opening 88 in the sleeve such that the sleeve turns therewith and carries with it a motion-transferring member or key 89 rigidly held between the offset 90 and flange 91 (see FIG. 7) on the sleeve. The sleeve extends through the leg 35 and on through the center opening 92 of an intermediate arm 94, held on the sleeve by the end of the sleeve being turned outward to form a flange 95 which is larger than the opening 92 through the arm. The arm 94 may turn relative to the sleeve and a spring washer 96 acts between the arm and leg 35 to hold the arm tight.

The arm 94 extends downward along the outside of the lbracket leg 35 where it is connected to the locking lever 60. The connection is achieved by passage of a stud 98, rigidly fixed to extend perpendicular to the upperk arm 62 on the lever, through an arcuate slot 99 in the leg 35 and on through an elongated slot in the arm (see FIGS. 3, 4 and 6). The slot 99 is arcuately curved about the fulcrum 61 of the locking lever so as not to limit movement of the stud 98 therein as the locking lever is turned.

A lost motion connection is achieved between the square shaft 82 and the intermediate arm 94 by a projection 101 on the key 89, which projection is bent perpendicular to the key to extend past the end of the bracket leg 35, interii-t-ting with an arcuate indent 102 in the edge of the arm. The indent 102 is approximately twice as long as the width of the projection 101.

By this arrangement, turning of the shaft 82 to rotate the key 89 about the shaft axis causes the projection 101 to contact the edge 103 or 104 of the indent 102 to in turn pivot the intermediate arm `about the same shaft axis. The edges of the slo-t in the arm then act through the stud 98 to pivot the locking lever 60 about its fulcrum 61 to the center position where it then snaps past to either the locked or unlocked position. By use of this lost motion linkage of the projection 101 and indent 102, the shaft 82 need only be turned sutiiciently to rotate the locking lever past the center position, where the spring 66 then positively snaps it on to the next position without further turning of the shaft.

To turn the shaft 82, the end 105 thereof extending past the contactor arm 46 is received in a square opening of a sleeve 106 fitting within and concentric with the pushbutton 81. The square opening is sized to permit the transmitting of rotary motion between the sleeve and shaft and yet allow the sleeve to slide along the shaft. A key mechanism 109e ts into the well 109 of the pushbutton 81 such that, by insertion of the proper key in the key mechanism, the sleeve and squ-are shaft 82 can be turned about the shaft axis to move the locking lever to the locked and unlocked positions as before described.

The pushbutton is held in the handle opening 107 by a flange 10-8 thereon intercepting a lip at the outside edge of the opening. A compression spring 110 is mounted around the outside of the pushbutton to act between the inner side of the ange 108 and the inner end of the well and urges the pushbutton outward. When pressed inward, the sleeve 106 slides along the shaft 82 with the inner end 111 of the pushbutton moving against and pivoting the contactor 46 counterclockwise (-FIG. 5). Pivoting the contactor in this manner moves the pawl 31 to the unlatched position where the ratchet 32 and attached latch 24 are allowed to turn, thereby permitting opening of the door. The hole 84 in the contactor arm 46 is elongated to allow the arm to pivot without interference with the shaft.

It will be observed that, with a latch constructed in accordance with the present invention, the latch may be locked, unlocked and unlatched from outside the door by manually operating the concentric combination of the pushbutton and key mechanism, with the overcenter action of the locking lever acting to positively lock and unlock the latch by reason of the lost motion connection with the key mechanism.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a door latch, the combination of a support, a latch member rotatably mounted on said support to turn between latched and unlatched positions, a pawl selectively operable to hold said latch member in said latched position and movable to release the member for turning to the unlatched position, a locking member mounted on said support to move between locked and unlocked positions, said locking member when in the locked position being operable to prevent movement of said pawl from the latchholding to the latch release positions, a spring biasing said locking member to both the locked and unlocked positions for effecting an over-center force on the member as it moves from either position to the other, a manual element mounted for longitudinal and rotary movement, an abutment on said element for contacting and moving the pawl to the unlatched position when said element is moved longitudinally, a shaft journaled on said support, means connecting the shaft and manual element for permitting longitudinal movement of the element without movement of the shaft and for rotating the shaft with rot-ation ofthe element, an intermediate arm mounted `on said support for pivotal movement between first and `second p-ositions, means connecting said intermediate arm and said locking member to move said locleing member to the locked and unlocked positions When said arm is moved to the rst Iand second positions, a pair of abutments spaced a predetermined distance on said arm, and a transfer member mounted to rotate with said shaft and having Contact edges thereon spaced apart less than said predetermined distance and positioned between said abutments whereby rotation of said manual ele-ment `and shaft will cause one of said Contact edges to abut one of said spaced UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,658,783 11/1953 Allen 292-216 2,735,710 2/1956 Dingman et al 70-135 X 2,793,898 5/1957 Roethel 70-135 X 3,232,656 2/1966 Coverley et al 292-216 X RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner. 

